Why Kind, Beautiful Buildings Spark Joy and Happiness

I prefer to travel, in order of preference, by foot and then by bike. Most importantly, I prefer both self-propelled modes of transportation over driving a car. I have been car-free for three years and would prefer to live the rest of my life without a car. I do not own a bike either. Mainly because I can hop on a bike-share bike any time I want lowering my need to purchase, maintain and store a bike in 700 sf. I love the way the crisp San Francisco air feels riding in the city. I can certainly get to my destination quicker than by foot and still enjoy the sun on my skin. Still, I choose to walk. I love standing next to buildings and looking up to observe the details. I enjoy watching the way the sun dances on the materials as it rises in the morning and sets in the evening. I cherish how buildings touch the ground and meet the sky. I like to touch the moldings and see how the craftsmanship stands up to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome (note - they never do!). I choose to give myself twice the amount of walking time to my destination because I want to soak everything in. Former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, argues that walkability is important to our mental health and that in order to fulfill our potential as human beings we need to walk and be with other people.

The details that catch my eye while walking in San Francisco, CA.

How then does architecture contribute to a joyful public realm? Rather than only being home to a particular use, a building has a job to do in terms of creating an outdoor room for public space. Formed space allows people to feel safe, comfortable and engage with their surroundings. I think that a building’s role goes even further than that, it presents values for a community to want to aspire to, it provides order without eliminating a sense of surprise, it offers a kindness to the street that lifts the city as a whole, it provides clues on the exterior as to what is happening inside to give the community a sense of predictability, and it reminds us of people and places evoking memories.

Architectural values have the ability to emphasize positive aspects of an individual’s personality. Vitruvian and Aristotelian values might remind a community of the noble ideals we wish to aspire to, or they might inspire us to lead a more dignified life. In The Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius lays out three principles of good design: durability, utility and beauty. When perfecting this art of building, Greek architects invented the architectural orders, giving them a sense of proportion. These proportions are used to determine the size and height of pedestals, columns and entablatures. Today, these proportions inform the character of a window or door surround, the extent of a cornice, and other moldings and details of a building. Furthermore, Aristotle describes a happy life intended for human beings is one lived in agreement with virtue. He goes on to explain the role of the city in bringing about a virtuous life in the citizenry. The most authoritative and highest good of all, for Aristotle, is the virtue and happiness of the citizens, and the purpose of the city is to make it possible for the citizens to achieve this virtue and happiness. It is the shared pursuit of virtue that makes a city a city. As such, it makes sense to design our surroundings based on values and ideals. We find a piece of design attractive or beautiful if the values it conveys appeals to us. In essence, architecture is not only a craft, but an art. And where there is art, there is beauty.

Application of the Corinthian Order in San Francisco, CA. The five traditional, western architectural orders are Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.  

According to The Architecture of Happiness, order is one aspect that all citizens need and could serve as a universal standard of beauty in architecture. We appreciate order because we understand that nature cannot produce it. Order protects us from the unpredictability of the world around us which causes anxiety. We look for more predictability in a numerous places. However, too much regularity can trigger boredom. This brings us back to the need for surprise and unpredictability. A single, carefully laid out apartment building might be attractive, a neighborhood of identical buildings starts to feel uninviting. When taken too far, people can find such uniformity boring rather than beautiful. Order requires balance, and complexity with details and public realm elements serves this function by helping us appreciate the order that already exists. In order to become a surprise engineer, we have to design surprises that are delightful and create experiences that play to the receiver’s senses.

Order is achieved through a consistent street wall of character-rich buildings along the sidewalk. Elements such as a variety of buildings types & architectural styles, openings, awnings, sidewalk display, street trees, human scale signage, porches, stoops, etc. add joyful delight within the public realm. (Images: San Francisco, CA)

When I began researching this topic, I read Happy City by Charles Montgomery (Follow @thehappycity) and The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton (Follow site). As I was reading these books, I could not help but relate certain ideas to Give and Take by Adam Grant (Follow @adamgrant). In Give and Take, Grant argues that being a Giver is the best way to success in business and life. Givers lead with generosity and are predetermined to thrive. If we relate this to the previous points, then buildings and surroundings designed based on values have the power to lift a community. They have the confidence and kindness to be a little boring. If the focus is on the community, not on the building itself, then it creates zero resistance in the other buildings. Just as Givers cannot burn out if they see how big their impact it, beautiful buildings cannot become obsolete if they focus on the citizenry and are functionally fluid.

I created this arrangement of analysis drawings to show the details of a building composed using the language of the Corinthian Order. The source for the drawings is Iron Architecture of New York, NY. I also explored a looser drawing style and bright color palette; finishing the piece with confetti colors! Let me know what you think! 

As I walked out of Barry's Bootcamp in San Francisco FiDi, I noticed this building at the end of the narrow alley. Do you see the language in the analysis drawings reflected in this tower?